Friday Evening Talk – January 18, 2013

Marilia will introduce an archetypal perspective on the effectiveness of fairy tales and storytelling toward understanding the roundabout awakening process in committed couples. The 2000 year-old Apuleius tale of the marriage of Eros & Psyché, as retold by Robert Johnson in She, will be her point of departure. The focus of the talk, however, will be the essence of the 1700s French version of the story—La Belle & la Bête—as interpreted by filmmaker Jean Cocteau in post-war France (1946), and by the Walt Disney animated version, Beauty and the Beast (1991).

The fairytale Beauty and the Beast, as proposed by Jung, is about the awakening process in ourselves and in marriage. It is about human transformation and transcendence through self-knowledge, intentional dialogue, selflessness, and moral capacity. In essence, it is about the birth of Consciousness.

For couples interested in healthy relationships, awareness of this process invites psychological growth, synergy, integrity, and the ability “to see the Other.” For couples therapists, awareness of archetypal forces in couple-making might facilitate more precise, concise, and to-the-point clinical interventions. For Jungians, it is a delightful voyage into the depths of our most enduring archetypes.

Marilia would like to suggest the following resources to enjoy prior to attending the presentation and workshop.

Robert Johnson’s She: Understanding Feminine Psychology (1989)

Erich Neumann’s Amor and Psyché (Paperback Edition, 1971)

Disney animated version of Beauty and the Beast (Special Edition, 2002)

Marilia Baker, MSW,is a multicultural Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Keenly interested in Carl G. Jung’s teachings and depth psychology since 1961, Ms. Baker studied the Intensive Journal with Ira Progroff in Boston in the 1970s. Over the past 50 years she has sought knowledge and wisdom from Jungian luminaries, among them Jean Shinoda Bolen, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, James Hillman, James Hollis, Murray Stein, Jonathan Young, and Marion Woodman. These authors and many others have opened up meaningful psychological and spiritual pathways throughout her professional life.

In addition, Baker’s personal experiences throughout an international, transcultural 45-year marriage, contributed to her scientific interest in the meanderings of a dyad’s developmental journey, and on how couples are harnessed together by the force of archetypal energies.

Board Member of the Phoenix Institute of Ericksonian Therapy, Ms. Baker is an International Consultant and Advisor to Centro Ericksoniano de Mexico, and Invited Faculty at the Milton H. Erickson Foundation international congresses on Ericksonian Approaches. Author of A Tribute to Elizabeth Moore Erickson: Colleague Extraordinaire, Wife, Mother and Companion (2004), also published in French, Portuguese and Spanish. Marilia Baker is an Advisor on Board of Phoenix Friends of C.G. Jung.